The participation rate was put at 51.56 percent, which opposition parties said showed voter doubts about the validity of the contest.The December 29 election was presented by Deby’s party as the last stage of the country’s transition to democracy after he took power as a military ruler in 2021.

Members of the armed forces and nomadic tribes in Chad were summoned to vote on Saturday for logistical reasons.

But most people in the African nation of about 20 million people will vote on Sunday to select a national parliament, regional assemblies and local councils. The polls will be open from 6am to 5pm local time (05:00 to 16:00 GMT).

“They say they don’t expect to see any changes. They say that they believe that the ruling party is going to win no matter what,” she said.

“A lot of them are just talking about … bread-and-butter issues: They say the cost of living is extremely high. They’re talking about corruption and nepotism that is rife.”

The country’s opposition parties have called on people to boycott the vote, which they described as a sham.

“No campaign, no vote on December 29. Stay at home and ask others to do the same,” the main opposition Transformers party said in a post on Facebook.

Still, about 45 percent of the country’s 200,000 nomadic tribespeople and 45,000 soldiers had cast their ballots by midday on Saturday, according to initial estimates.

Military personnel began arriving early at a polling station in the Koundoul barracks near N’Djamena, the AFP news agency reported.

“Voting is proceeding normally. The military are voting freely,” senior election management official Ousmane Houzibe said.

The elections are taking place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by rebel group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.

Chad also recently ended a military accord with its former colonial power, France, and the country has faced accusations that it is interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.

President Deby’s government has presented the weekend elections as a key stage in the transition to democratic rule.

The 40-year-old leader took power in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.

Analyst Mamadou Bodian said while the elections marked a “significant milestone”, bringing to a close a three-year transition period, they are nonetheless highly contested and seen as favouring the governing Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party.

“Even the electoral management body is seen as dominated by individuals loyal to the ruling party,” Bodian told Al Jazeera. “And this raises serious concern not only about the process, but also the independence of the whole electoral system.”

A lack of international observers and an “opaque” voting-counting process also exacerbate a longstanding distrust in Chadian elections, Bodian said.

The opposition boycott “reflects a widespread belief that these elections are neither free nor fair”, he added.

“And this also casts doubt on Chad’s democratic prospects.”

Deby won a five-year presidential mandate in May after a vote that the opposition denounced as fraudulent. The last legislative elections date back to 2011.

The announcement came just hours after Koulamallah’s French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, met Chad’s President Mahamat Deby.

Chad is a key partner in the West’s fight against Islamist militants in the West African Sahel region.

But prior to the presidential election in May, Chad’s authorities ordered the withdrawal of US troops from the country, signalling a distancing from the country’s traditional Western allies.

France currently has about 1,000 troops in the Central African country providing intelligence and logistical assistance to the Chadian military from their bases, including in the capital N’Djamena.

France, Chad’s former colonial ruler, had signed a revised version of the military and security agreement in 2019.

Chad is just the latest nation in Central and West Africa to sever its security agreements with Paris.

Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have all ended deals with France and other Western nations in recent years, turning to Russia for support instead.

But Koulamallah told the AFP news agency that Chad’s decision did not mark a “break with France, like Niger or elsewhere”.

In other statements on Thursday, Koulamallah said France was an “essential partner” but that Chad must “redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities”.

The authorities insisted the move would not affect Chad’s relations with France in other areas.